Key points from today’s guests:
Morning Rounds
Dr. Marc Hoffman, medical director, Lymphoma and Myeloma, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
- A recent study has labeled tattoos as a risk factor for a certain type of cancer, malignant lymphoma, and it generated numerous headlines last week with varying levels of alarm.
- What the study found was about a 20 to 30 percent increase, depending on how you looked at the data, in your risk of developing a lymphoma if you had a tattoo.
- Your overall risk of lymphoma is very low. So 20 percent beyond a low number is still a really low number.
- The other thing about this study is that you have to question whether or not it's actually true. And I would argue that it's really not entirely clear if it's something about the tattoo ink itself. I think there's some sort of logical leaps here that are not entirely clear.
- Probably one of the strongest repeatable statistical associations is that between ice cream consumption and increased murder rate. Does that mean that ice cream causes people to be more violent and want to kill each other? Is there something about ice cream that makes us all more violent and murderous? No. People eat more ice cream in the summer. There are more murders committed in the summer and therefore there's a linkage.
- So when we see these types of epidemiological associations, you need to interpret them with extreme caution.
Focus Topic
Dr. Ajay Nangia, urologist, The University of Kansas Health System
- There is a stigma among men about not talking about their health because they have to be strong and stoic. The topics can be about a number of things – sexual health, heart issues, mental health, cancer screening, and more.
- Ads have been more prevalent and that helps with awareness. What men's health awareness is about is getting the word out so that people can come discuss these problems with their physicians, rather than dwell on them where you can have these issues compound.
- This direct consumer marketing is a double-edged sword. When it gets the word out, it also puts fear at people and I think that the fear should be motivation to get people to see a doctor.
- My wife told me to go to doctor for checkup and used the fear of not being there for my family as a motivation.
- Men need extra motivation to take care of their health.
- This is awareness month for a reason. Awareness and advocacy are important.
Dr. Jake Fantus, urologist, The University of Kansas Health System
- I think a lot of this reluctance to see a doctor or talk about health concerns is generational. I see men of all ages. I think younger people are a little bit more apt to discuss overall health issues.
- I screen everybody for mental health issues, which I think may be a bigger part of this puzzle.
- Diagnosis of one problem can help diagnose other problems.
- Showing how common issues are among men can help them understand that this isn’t about vulnerability or weakness.
- Our job is to provide information. Men need to take control and be proactive.
- This is about investment in long-term health so it doesn’t turn into a serious, more expensive problem down the road. Get checked at a young age.
Tuesday, June 4 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Abraham and Christine Jacobs were faced with an emotional decision when they found out their pregnancy with Alexander included anencephaly, an extreme birth defect with a slim chance of survival. We’ll show you how their decision saved the lives of four other children.
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